The Association of English Graduate Instructors and Students (AEGIS) of Southern IllinoisUniversity at Carbondale would like to invite you to participate in a conference that explores themyriad possibilities presented by examining authorial control. Form, whether definedtraditionally, as in the sonnet, or pushed to new limits in the postmodern, poses challenges,limitations, possibilities, and inspiration for literary expression. In addition, formal choices areoften made as a result of the influence of political and cultural control. Insomuch as examiningliterary form gives insight into the intentional manipulation of a text, forms of power ofteninfluence the subject matter, themes, and/or style.

We encourage those submitting proposals to consider our theme in a variety of ways including,but not limited to:â€¢ The ways form influences subjectâ€¢ The role of new-formalism in current literary studiesâ€¢ The ways hegemonies influence literatureâ€¢ The effect of ideologies on artâ€¢ The way in which language and national discourse drive creative production

Featured speakers at this conference will include Kevin J.H. Dettmar the author of The Illicit Joyceof Postmodernism: Reading Against the Grain (1996), and Is Rock Dead? (2005), and editor ofRereading the New: A Backward Glance at Modernism (1992); Marketing Modernisms: Self-Promotion, Canonization, and Rereading (1996); Reading Rock & Roll: Authenticity,Appropriation, Aesthetics (1999); and the Blackwell Companion to British Literature and Culture(2005). Also featured is Pinckney Benedict the author of Town Smokes, The Wrecking Yard, andDogs of God.

In addition to guest speakers, this conference will feature an exhibit of some of SIUCâ€™s extensivecollection of rare manuscripts, letters and photographs from James Joyce, the Abbey Theatre,Richard Aldington, Henry Miller, as well as other expatriate and modernist materials.

We invite individual paper proposals of 350-500 words for a 20-minute conference presentation.We also encourage panel submissions (of three papers per panel totaling 60 minutes). Panelpaper proposals should be sent together, and should be accompanied by a rationale for whythese papers are grouped together as well as a panel title (as it is to appear on the program).Proposals should be sent to Krystal McMillen at yvonnec_at_siu.edu by October 28, 2007.